Mindscape
by Satu-D-2
Summary: Tien has tried everything he can think of. Shaking, screaming, cold, hot. Everything in between. In desperation he has now called for help from the Guardian of Earth. Because Chiaotzu won't wake up.


AN. Hello everyone. This is a (almost!) belated entry to the r/FanFiction January challenge. I used the three word prompts and while I'd started out only meaning to use two the third one slipped on in there anyway. Please to enjoy :)

Massive thank you to CommanderAIK to casting his eyes over this for me. It's so appreciated!

* * *

In the Northern Wastes the wind was always cold. It blasted around the peaks and through the valleys with icy fangs ready to sink into whoever dared step outside. The small cabin was nestled close to one of those small hills, sheltered on one side. Inside was usually warm and cosy, lit by a crackling fire and generally totally silent; the two within using their minds more often than their mouths to communicate. Now, however, they had guests, two aliens who'd travelled far to answer a desperate call for help.

"Can you tell what's wrong with him, Dende?"

"I'm trying."

Dende leaned over the boy sleeping in the bed, laying his hands gently on the narrow chest.

Chiaotzu had been sleeping for hours. Tien had tried everything he could think of to rouse him but nothing had worked. He'd shaken the boy, pulled the blankets off. He'd opened the windows so the icy wind blew in. But he wouldn't wake up. In desperation Tien had called for Dende's help, stretching his telepathy until his head ached to reach all the way to the Lookout.

While he waited for Dende to get there he had paced around the small cabin, his third eye fixed on Chiaotzu in case of any movement. His mind grew turbulent, unable to focus, so when Piccolo and Dende landed outside it took him a long time to even notice. Namekians were not used to cold weather, and so by the time Piccolo had grown tired of waiting and broken down the front door the pair of them were shivering badly.

Now Piccolo was sulking in the corner while Dende fussed over the unconscious telepath. Tien was kneeling on the floor beside Chiaotzu, anxiously glancing between his best friend and the guardian of Earth.

"There's something…strange," Dende said frowning. He moved his hand to the boy's head, four green fingers splaying over the white skin of Chiaotzu's forehead. The skin there was warm and dry. Tien had felt his forehead early on, expecting to find a fever, a chill, something, _anything_ that would give him a clue to what was causing this. "It's like it's trying to block me… Did you try telepathy?"

"Of course!" Tien snapped, unable to help himself. Piccolo straightened in the corner and cast a withering look towards Tien. Dende didn't flinch at Tien's shout and ignored Piccolo's protective movement. He just looked at Tien patiently until the triclops took a calming breath and leaned against the bed. "Sorry, Dende… I have tried. It didn't work. His mind is…hidden from me, in a way it hasn't been for a very long time. It's like talking to a wall."

Dende nodded. "Is this something he could have set up? To protect himself?"

Tien thought for a moment, then dismissed the idea with a firm shake of his head. "He wouldn't need to. Not from me. He'd know me, he'd…he'd let me through…"

His voice trailed off to a sad silence. Dende nodded, then reached out his other hand and rested it on Tien's.

"I'm going to do my best, okay? We're going to fix this. I promise."

Tien didn't smile. He didn't relax. But his hand turned and clasped Dende's tightly as he nodded. What a relief that their new Kami was so kind and gentle. He couldn't imagine Piccolo's other half being as patient.

As his fingers tightened around Dende's hand the Namekian let out a little gasp and jolted.

"I can feel something! I think…it's Chiaotzu!" Horror filled his eyes as he looked at Tien. "He's…"

But Tien didn't need him to finish. He could hear Chiaotzu clearly now. The boy was there, small and tinny and lost behind the wall guarding his own mind. And he was screaming.

A low despairing moan left his lips as he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to Chiaotzu's arm.

"You can fix it, right, Dende? You can bring him back, you can stop him hurting."

"I…" Dende let go of Tien's hand. Chiaotzu's scream silenced instantly, as though it had been cut off with a knife. "I don't know… He's in there somewhere, but he sounds far away. And something else is blocking him from getting out." A pause and then, "We'd need to send someone in to find him."

"How?" Tien asked. He straightened and pinned Dende with an intense stare. "I'll go in there gladly, but you need to promise me that Chiaotzu and I will both come out safely."

"I can't promise that, Tienshinhan," Dende said. He was not intimidated in the slightest. It was oddly heartening, seeing the slim teenager remain so confident beneath the sharp gaze of the tall, imposing triclops. "All I can promise is that I am going to be here and that I will try my hardest to make sure that you don't get lost."

Tien nodded. That would do. He could deal with that. "How do we do it?"

"You need to go to sleep. Holding his hand if possible. I'll link your two minds as you fall deeper and so hopefully you'll slip through the barrier without being noticed."

Tien nodded. With no sense of shame or awkwardness he lay on the bed beside Chiaotzu, wrapped one arm around the boy's sleeping form, and closed his eyes. The narrow bed was far two small for the two of them, but he curled his body around and cradled the limp body of his brother close to his chest. He thought he wouldn't be able to sleep. He thought his fear and worry would keep him awake. Surprisingly, though, when he closed his eyes he felt himself drifting almost immediately.

"I'll guide you," Dende said gently, and he felt the teenager's hand on his arm. "Don't be afraid."

Of course he wasn't afraid. He was going to help get Chiaotzu back. Fear wasn't an option.

As he sunk deeper into sleep his mind became fuzzy and relaxed, and Dende's gentle energy pushed him closer towards the barrier surrounding Chiaotzu. It didn't stop him, not with his energy so vague and unfocused, and his mind prickled and shook as it passed through.

Then he woke up.

Well, his mind did. His body was far away, connected to his mind by only the most tenuous thread. He could feel Dende on the other end, holding him together, and felt again that quick rush of gratitude.

His senses were different now. He wasn't there in a physical sense, only in a mental one. He could see, in a way, and hear, but his sense of touch was gone and all he could smell and taste was the cold bite of the air in their cabin. His body was still transmitting to his mind. That was a relief.

He looked around. He had been in Chiaotzu's mind before, of course. The boy had been the one to teach him telepathy all those years ago, and since then there had been a constant link between them. He realised now that though he and Chiaotzu had shared some level of their mind, he was now in a plane much deeper than he had been before. Deep in Chiaotzu's subconscious.

It was horrible. Twisted pillars of thought and deep ravines of fear spread out before him. Strange angles bent the landscape and vibrant impossible colours tugged at his imagination. He started to hurt all over, the mental manifestation of his energy trying to tear asunder.

 _Stop it,_ he told himself sternly. Again, no physical voice. Only his telepathy. At the sound of it the landscape quivered and formed itself into a slightly more sane vista, the wrong angles becoming a little more right, the impossible colours a little more possible.

He had never been as good at telepathy as Chiaotzu. The boy had an innate talent for it that put his efforts to shame. Even so he had to concentrate to hear Chiaotzu's own telepathic voice.

 _Tien…help…me…_

It was weak and soft, frightened and exhausted. Chiaotzu sounded as though he had been screaming for hours. For days. For years. Was that possible? Time was funny in the mental realm, Tien knew that instinctively. And that whole time Chiaotzu had been calling for his older brother to help him.

His heart broke at that realisation and he pushed onward. Chasms of phobias opened before him. Spiders scuttled about in one, their eyes glinting in light that oscillated between harsh and dim like breath. Another was dark as pitch, no light able to penetrate the veil of shadow. From one Tien was horrified to hear their Master's voice, the Crane Hermit demanding loyalty, blind obedience. A cold thrill ran through his own mind at the sound.

 _Chiaotzu!_ He imagined hands cupping around his mouth, his voice lifted as loud as possible. His telepathy rang out through the distorted, twisted landscape of Chiaotzu's subconscious. _Can you hear me!? I'm here! Just keep calling! I'll find you!_

 _Tien…?_

Barely a whisper. But it was something. It was coming from behind him. He whirled, glad to have turned his back on the terrible rifts and chasms of Chiaotzu's worst fears.

Before him now was a library. There was no door to speak of, just rows and rows of books stretching as far as the eye could see. The landscape he was in now merged seamlessly with these shelves, vines and stones and pillars gradually transitioning into books.

Most of them were on maths. This was not a surprise. Chiaotzu had been desperately trying to get a handle on numbers ever since they'd abandoned the Crane and struck out alone. He could never quite get the hang of them, however. Addition and subtraction was no longer a problem but multiplication wouldn't stick.

Though Tien had initially been relieved to get into the shelves, away from the wrong angles, he found that the library was not immune to the changes that were twisting poor Chiaotzu's mind. The shelves were also wrong, somehow. Too wide, too thin. Bending impossibly. His mind hurt as he looked at them, so he kept his eyes resolutely in front of him.

At least, that was part of the reason.

A big part of it was also that as he scanned the bookcases he had felt…dirty somehow. Like a spy, infiltrating his best friend's most private thoughts. These subjects, thoughts, emotions, were not available for Chiaotzu to share. Tien didn't have permission to view them.

That had been a key part in their telepathy. Their minds had been connected for so long, so thoroughly, that they had had to learn early to respect each other's privacy. Chiaotzu sometimes slipped in panic, used too much psychic power, tore down Tien's barriers. Tien could still remember waking up after delaying Cell to find his mind torn open, laid bare, and Chiaotzu's energy in the middle trembling with terror and sorrow. The telepath had rebuilt those walls without looking at the contents, apologising, easing the pain of that accidental slip.

 _Chiaotzu! Don't stop calling! I'm almost there!_

 _Tien… Be safe… The monster…_

Monster?

They had faced many monsters in the past. They had fought and died and been brought back. Chiaotzu had stayed behind on many occasions, his physical limitations met. His psychic powers were still growing and he was honing them to razor points if required. However, facing demons like Cell or the Androids, his speed couldn't keep up. It would be too easy for them to reach out and catch him before he could channel his energy. Too easy for them to…

 _Tien…_

His brother's voice trailed off into a soft whimper of pain. Tien broke into a run. He'd sounded like he was just around the corner.

 _Please, please, you have to be okay,_ he thought, sent, shouted. Panic clawed at him, sinking in teeth of fire and making his mind agitated. He whirled around the corner at the edge of the bookcase and screeched to a halt.

Chiaotzu was curled up and sobbing. His energy seemed almost electrified, desperately trying to protect itself. A formless black shadow was hovering nearby, radiating malevolence. Every now and then it would try to attach itself to Chiaotzu's energy, only to be batted off by flailing tendrils of telepathy.

 _Tien…_

 _Chiaotzu, I'm here._

The boy's energy unfurled. Rushed at him. It was huge, dwarfing him, and when it embraced and encircled him in a desperate, frightened hug it was clear that despite Tien's physical strength and much larger stature, Chiaotzu was the one in power here.

But he was afraid. And that fear had crippled his power and caused his mind to be far less overwhelming than it would have been.

 _Tien, thank Kami, I've been so afraid and it's been hovering over me all night. It blocked me off, I couldn't get out. I've been calling and calling._

Tien could feel the barriers within his own mind start to fold as Chiaotzu held on tight.

 _Chiaotzu, what is that thing? How did it get here?_

 _I don't know._ Chiaotzu trembled and Tien wrapped thin tendrils of energy around him. It stretched his mind to its furthest extent to reach all the way around Chiaotzu's considerable psychic mind, but he managed. _It woke me up._

It hovered close again. Its form was impossible to pin down, vague and blurred at the edges. Shadowed limbs reached out and caught at Chiaotzu's energy again, pulling and tearing. Chiaotzu screamed and lashed out, sharp spikes of telepathy sinking into the thing's form.

The shadow circled away. Chiaotzu's energy drew back towards himself. Tien gripped tighter, suddenly terrified.

The sharp points of Chiaotzu's energy…they had come back blunt. Faded. _Gnawed on_. Whatever this monster was it wasn't just keeping Chiaotzu trapped inside his own mind. It was _feeding on him_.

 _Chiaotzu, stop touching it!_

He cursed their setting. If they had been in the physical realm he could have easily caught Chiaotzu's arms, held them close, protected the boy. As it was all he could do was embrace the boy. He was powerless to restrain, to hold back. To help.

 _It hurts_ , Chiaotzu moaned. _Help me. Stop it! It's hurting me!_

 _I can't_. Tien tightened his grip. The edges of their minds were starting to merge together now. Chiaotzu's fear was making him lose control and if he wasn't careful he'd absorb Tien's mind completely. _We're in your mind; I'm powerless here._

Then Dende's voice, distant and echoing. _Hurry up! The connection's getting weaker!_

 _It's feeding on your power,_ Tien said. _I can't do anything because it'll totally devour me. Chiaotzu, how much is it taking?_

 _Not much…_ Chiaotzu's telepathy was hesitant. _It hurts. Like needles of fire. I can push it away before it takes too much but it always comes back._

Tien eyed the creature. It was circling lazily. It didn't show any signs of approaching. For the moment it didn't seem to show any interest in him whatsoever.

 _It's a leech_ , he said softly.

 _If it's a leech why is it still here?_ Chiaotzu wailed. _Why won't it leave me alone!?_

 _Because you've got more psychic energy than it can eat._

They were both silent for a long moment. The merging at the edges of their minds confirmed that they had both had exactly the same idea. But Chiaotzu was afraid.

 _Tien, I don't want to. I…I can't…_

 _You have to._ _I'll be right here, but you're the only one who can do this._ Chiaotzu became very still. Tien loosened his grip, peeled his energy away from his brother's. _You need to be as strong as possible. Flood its senses._

Chiaotzu pulled away. His energy unfurled. Tien felt tiny compared to him. Tendrils like whips extended and wrapped tight around the leech. It jolted. Writhed. Chiaotzu let out a whimper of fear, but with one smooth motion pulled the leech into the centre of his energy.

He was so brave. As the pain hit and his telepathic scream echoed around them he kept his grip strong so the monster couldn't wiggle free. It swelled. Chiaotzu's energy flagged, waned, faded. With a piercing shriek that spiked pain directly into the centre of Tien's mind, the leech burst. Dissipated into smoke. Vanished.

Chiaotzu's energy slumped backwards into Tien. The wrong angles and colours slowly began to realign themselves, Chiaotzu's mind reasserting normality after the leech's influence.

 _Let's get out of here,_ Tien said gently.

 _Mmkay…_

 _Dende! Can you still hear me?_

 _I can but you're very faint. Please, quickly, rise as fast as you can. When I can grab you I'll pull you both free of his subconscious._

They wrapped their minds around each other. Chiaotzu had had a lot of his psychic power devoured and was weak and trembling. Tien lifted them both, rising easily through the layers of Chiaotzu's subconscious. Everything that had been so twisted and wrong was slowly straightening, reforming.

Then Dende's energy caught them and everything went dark.

Tien slowly opened his eyes. Dende was hovering over him, anxiously checking him over, and when their eyes met a wide relieved smile spread over the teenager's face.

"Tienshinhan! You're back!"

Tien nodded, wincing as his mind seemed to bounce around his skull. The usual tethers were loose and relaxed, stretching as he moved. He shifted, feeling the edge of the narrow bed, then looked down. Chiaotzu was still, his breath soft against Tien's arm.

He jostled the boy, unable to find the strength to speak. His heart seemed to be stopped dead in his chest. He couldn't even breath…

"Tien…"

Chiaotzu's voice was a whisper, felt more than heard in the variation of his breath. Tien grinned and hugged the boy tight, tears of relief squeezing from his eyes.

"Head...hurts… Gentle…"

"Sorry." He loosened his grip. "You're okay… you're really okay!"

Dende smiled and gently laid a hand on Chiaotzu's head. A brief glow of energy, a momentary flash that hurt Tien's eyes, before the young Namekian drew back.

"There's nothing there that I can heal," he said simply. "What was in there? What had blocked him off?"

"A telepathic leech. It had been feeding off him." Dende's face dropped in a look of horror. "He killed it though. Overloaded its stomach. Gave it more energy than it could eat in a lifetime." Tien bent and kissed Chiaotzu's head. "You were so brave, little brother."

Dende reached out, gripped Tien and Chiaotzu's hands tightly. Tears glimmered in his eyes, offsetting the wide grin. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"Thank you for your help, Dende," Tien said. He lifted his head slightly, ignoring the pulling pain that accompanied the movement and nodded to Piccolo. The former Demon King, the reincarnation of an evil that had caused Tien and Chiaotzu so much pain and so many years of nightmares, had pushed away from the corner while Tien had been unconscious and had been looking worriedly at them. At the nod he relaxed ever so subtly, crossing his arms. "And thank you, Piccolo. Your help was greatly appreciated."

Piccolo didn't respond, just looked at Dende. "Time to go." His gaze softened as he looked at the two humans. "Take care."

They left. The house fell silent again. In the circle of Tien's arms, Chiaotzu shifted, rolled, cuddled close to his big brother.

"I did it," he said in that same soft weak voice.

"I knew you could." Tien smiled. "I'm proud of you, Chiaotzu. Now after some rest we'll start training your telepathy up again. I think you'll be able to get even stronger than you were before."

Chiaotzu nodded, and let out a small exhausted giggle. "I really did it…"

* * *

AN. My three words were, of course: Parasite, Blocker, Twisted. One of those was much easier than the others :P I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading :)


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